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The Detroit Lions made two moves to shore up their offense in the first 24 hours of this year’s free-agency signing period.

The major transaction so far was today’s signing of wide receiver Golden Tate to a five-year, $31 million contract, with $13.25 million guaranteed. The details were first reported via Twitter by ESPN reporter Josina Anderson, who said Tate told her.

Tate, 25, earned a Super Bowl championship ring in January with the Seattle Seahawks. He caught a career-high 64 passes for 898 yards and five touchdowns in 2013. In his four seasons with Seattle, he caught 165 balls for 2,195 yards and 15 scores. He has started 33 of 58 career games.

Advanced statistical analysis shows that Tate caught 144 of the 149 catchable balls thrown to him since 2011, giving him the best hands in the NFL, according to ProFootballFocus.com. He also led all wide receivers by forcing defenders to miss tackling him 21 times last season, PFF said.

His reliability, elusiveness and speed should make him an ideal alternative receiver to Calvin Johnson, Detroit’s primary pass catcher and a magnet for multiple defenders.

In that role, Tate replaces Nate Burleson, 32, who was injured for much of last season after a pizza-related traffic accident. Burleson missed 19 games in four seasons in Detroit and while effective on the field and as a locker room voice was cut last month to save money under the salary cap. He had signed a five-year, $25 million deal in 2010 after four seasons in Seattle.

The 5-foot-10 Tate was selected in the second round, 60th overall, in the 2010 National Football League draft out of the University of Notre Dame.

Detroit’s other signing was giving running back Joique Bell, a former Wayne State University player, a three-year contract reportedly worth $9.3 million, with $4.3 million guaranteed.

Bell, 27, made $630,000 on a one-year deal in 2013. He ran for 650 yards on 166 carries last season and was part of a change-of-pace running back tandem with the smaller, quicker Reggie Bush.

Bell also caught 53 passes for 547 yards. He was first signed by the Lions in 2011.

The annual free-agency period began at 4 p.m. Tuesday, and the Lions started Wednesday with $7.5 million of room available under the $133 million salary cap for 2014, according to the NFL Network’s Albert Breer. That was the third-smallest amount of available cap room among the league’s 32 teams.

In recent years, the team has reworked the contracts of several of its stars, such as quarterback Matthew Stafford, to find more space under the salary cap.

Detroit is expected to renegotiate the contract of defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, whose deal costs $22 million against the cap.